


Greatest Gift Of All

by Higgles123



Category: Band of Brothers (TV 2001)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:00:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28392774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Higgles123/pseuds/Higgles123
Relationships: Darrell "Shifty" Powers/You
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	Greatest Gift Of All

_“Day by Day_ _  
Im falling more in love with you  
And day by day  
My love seems to grow  
There isn’t any end to my devotion  
It’s deeper, dear, by far  
Than any ocean  
I find that day by day  
You’re making all my dreams come true  
So come what may  
I want you to know  
I’m yours alone  
And I’m in love to this day  
As we go through the years  
Day by day”_

Shifty leaned against the doorway, a wistful smile on his face as he listened to your sweet voice. He closed his eyes and thought back to the day less than one year ago when you had danced to this very song together in front of your friends and family. The day you had cemented your love for one another by becoming husband and wife.

You had been resplendent in your white gown, a vision surely sent from heaven. Not that you hadn’t always been beautiful. Even during the war when you were covered in blood and dirt and your (colour) hair hadn’t been washed in weeks, you had been the most beautiful thing in the world. At least to him. You were the first spring flower that bloomed after the harshest of winters. You were cool rain on a hot summer’s day.

In Bastogne, you had been his salvation. The only thing to get him through the place that was hell on earth. The long, meaningful conversations as you sat huddled up together in your foxhole. The tentative hand touches that would make you both blush. It was only after the death of Hoobler that you became more than friends. The guilt at not being able to save him as he had bled out on the floor had consumed you. You had sat in your shared foxhole, barely moving, barely even breathing. Your eyes had lost their shine, and every time you opened your mouth to speak you would choke up. When you had eventually fallen asleep, your slumber had been fitful and restless. When you had awoken in the middle of the night crying, Shifty had been unable to stop himself from taking you in his arms. He needed to make you feel safe, and make you understand that Hoobler’s death hadn’t been your fault. The pain in your eyes had cut him to the core. He had pulled you into his chest and kissed your forehead, wishing he could take it all away from you. And that was when it had happened. You had looked up at him, your E/C eyes staring intently into his own and before he knew it, his mouth had met yours in a ghost of a kiss. After that there had been no looking back.

Shifty opened his eyes to find you watching him with a smile on your face. You cupped his cheek and he turned his head to kiss your palm, as his hands cradled your life giving belly. The child inside kicked and he kissed your lips softly, marvelling at the miracle the two of you had created. As beautiful as you had always looked to him, nothing compared to the way you looked right now. There was nothing more beautiful than knowing that you carried his child and sustained it. It was awe inspiring. You were sacred, a thing to be worshipped and protected at all costs.

“I love you, little one,” he whispered, squatting down to kiss your rounded stomach. He smiled against your dress as the baby kicked once more, before standing back up. “And I love you too.”

“You say that, but I think the only one you care about now is this little one,” you teased, pointing to your stomach.

“Now you know that’s not true,” Shifty frowned. He was fairly certain you were joking, but the thought of you ever feeling second best bothered him tremendously. “I will love you until the very end of our days together. And even then, I’ll continue to love you.”

“I know, Shift,” you smiled. “And me and this little guy or girl are lucky to have you.”

“Not as lucky as I am to have you both,” he said, his dark eyes full of tender love and emotion. “You’re going to be the best mother to our child.”

“You think?”

You had never told Shifty your worries. Your own childhood had been rather dysfunctional and your relationship with your parents had crumbled from almost the moment you left home. They hadn’t even attended your wedding. And deep down you worried that you would damage your child, the way your own parents had damaged you.

“I don’t think,” Shifty shook his head, knowing exactly where your train of thought had headed. “I know. Just you wait and see.”

It turned out that you didn’t have to wait long. The pains started in the early hours of the following morning, and by evening you were safely delivered of a beautiful baby boy who was the image of his father.

Nothing could have prepared you for the intense feelings of love that surged through your body the very second your child was placed into your arms. It was a feeling like no other. It was indescribable.

Shifty watched as you nursed the babe, adoration pouring from his heart. The anxious wait for you to deliver the baby had felt like an eternity. And when he had heart that lusty cry, he had dropped to his knees and thanked God. Thanked God for keeping you safe and thanked God for giving him a healthy child. Now, as your tired face beamed down at the baby suckling hungrily at your breast, he realised that this gift wasn’t from God alone. Only another mother could give a gift such as this. And Mother Nature was the mother of all things, from the wild deer that ran through the trees to the fish that swam in the deepest of seas. Yet not one of the gifts she bestowed upon the earth could compare to the one before his very eyes. The greatest gift of all.


End file.
